Steps

1

Heat the milk (on the stove or in the microwave), but don't let it boil. Keep it warm.

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2

Grate the cheese coarsely and set it aside (a food processor with a grater disc will do this quickly).

3

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, add salt to the water, then add the macaroni. As soon as the macaroni is in the water, start the next step (making the sauce). You want the sauce and macaroni to be ready at about the same time.

Be sure to stir the macaroni from time to time so the pieces don't stick together.

If you're going to put the macaroni and cheese in the oven to bake, you can remove the pasta from the water when it's slightly undercooked. It will cook a little more in the oven, and if it's perfectly cooked when it goes in, it might come out too soft.

4

Make the white sauce. Melt the butter over medium-low heat, then stir in the flour with a wire whisk (this is called a roux). Turn the burner down a bit and let the roux bubble a few minutes (make sure the butter does not burn). Continue to stir to cook the flour a bit, but don't let it brown. Stir in the warm milk all at once, stirring vigorously with the whisk to smooth out any lumps. Whisk in the mustard and cayenne if you are using them and let the sauce bubble gently for about 2 minutes.

Drain the macaroni, giving it a few good shakes to get as much water out as possible. Some people prefer to rinse the pasta briefly to keep it from getting mealy (it removes excess starch released by heat).

6

Remove the sauce from the stove and stir in the grated cheese and the cooked macaroni. Stir until it is well mixed, then add salt and pepper to taste.

7

Serve or bake. If you want to bake the macaroni and cheese, put it in a baking dish, sprinkle more cheese or some buttered breadcrumbs on top, and bake it for 20 or 30 minutes at about 375 °F (191 °C).

The baked version is less creamy and has a crusty top.

To butter the breadcrumbs, heat up some butter in a small skillet and stir in the crumbs or make them in the oven as described in How to Make Buttered Crumbs.

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For example:Don't say: Eat more fats.Do say: Add fats with some nutritional value to the foods you already eat. Try olive oil, butter, avocado, and mayonnaise.

Video

Here's a different recipe for homemade macaroni and cheese.

Tips

For a little kick, add pepper flakes when folding in the cheese.

You can use other pasta shapes with a firm texture, such as rotini, ziti, shells, or penne. The reason little elbows are preferred is that they fill up with sauce as they mix together, and provide the perfect ratio of cheese sauce to pasta, but the other kinds mentioned will also work.

You can use any cheese you like (or a combination of cheeses), but some melt more smoothly than others. Monterrey Jack, Colby, Swiss, American and Cheddar are great choices because they melt nicely but don't "string" the way mozzarella does. Cheeses like blue cheese or feta will not melt as well, but they can be added in small quantities for a unique twist.

Store leftovers in the fridge in an air-tight container and reheat in the microwave. The sauce will absorb into the macaroni and it will not be so creamy when it's leftover. Some cheeses will become oily when reheated, so you'll have to experiment with your cheese to avoid this.

If your leftovers are too thick, add a touch of milk or cream, or sour cream. The flavor will be diluted somewhat, but if you feel it's too much, go ahead and add a little more grated cheese - this will take care of the dilution problem.

You can add a little cream cheese or sour cream to the sauce - just put a couple of tablespoons of sour cream, or half a cube of cream cheese in. Cut back slightly on the milk to keep the sauce from becoming too thin--although you can always reduce the sauce by constantly cooking over low heat and let some of the moisture evaporate. The cream cheese or sour cream (or both) add a wonderful tangy taste to the sauce.

Warnings

Keep an eye on the boiling pasta so you don't overcook it. Taste the pasta periodically and cook it until it seems just soft enough for you.

Be careful not to add too much salt to your sauce before you add the cheese. Cheddar can be quite salty. You can always ADD salt, but you can't take it away.

If you didn't listen to the warning above, and still made your sauce too salty, there is a solution: make a second batch of sauce without using any salt, then combine the two sauces together. This will make a lot of cheese sauce, but you can store the remainder in the refrigerator. Then it is a simple matter to reheat it for other purposes: to drizzle over toast, popcorn, or hot dogs; to make salsa con queso; to add to meatloaf; to add to hamburger meat before cooking to make cheeseburgers without the cheese slice on top; to pour over asparagus or broccoli; to mix with rice ... or anything else you can think of.

To get rid of excess salt in your sauce (or for soups and the like) you can always chop an apple, put it in the sauce for about 10 minutes and allow it to absorb the excess salt. Then just toss the apple. May not work as well on thicker cheese sauces but should still absorb some excess salt.

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